Northeast U.S. Tour - May 2025
If you missed us, here are some highlights from our set at Cafe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY

This great shot by Avraham Bank became our tour photo
The Local - Saugerties, NY
Lovin' Cup - Rochester, NY  photos: Steve Czubara
Ken's Jazz Attic - Larchmont, NY
The Iridium - New York, NY   photo: Samantha Levin
Sellersville Theater - Sellersville, PA
soundcheck at Funk N' Waffles - Syracuse, NY   photo: Joanne Recupero
Scullers Jazz Club - Boston, MA   photo: Tom Kirinski
Pat and Scullers' Marla Kleman
The Side Door Jazz Club - Old Lyme, CT   photo: Vincent Pasternak
May 2025 News
Last year, the Levin Brothers - Pete, Tony and Jeff Siegel - were joined by our good friend, virtuoso sax player Pat Labarbera, for 2 smokin' nights at the Rochester International Jazz Festival.  Pat is best known for his years as a featured soloist with The Buddy Rich Band and with legendary drummer Elvin Jones' quartet.  Starting on May 17th Pat is rejoining the trio for 2 weeks of gigs at some great Northeast U.S. jazz venues - NYC, Boston, Connecticut, Rochester, Syracuse, etc.  Some of the venues are new for us, some of them very special.  We're really looking forward to this one.  Hope one of these is in your 'hood; we'd love to see you. We'll have CDs with us on tour - not that first one on the left, they're long gone.  So are those great t-shirts.  Sorry. Here's the tour schedule.  Most of these venues are doing advanced ticket sales on line. That's recommended.
May 2025 Sat 17 8:00 The Local Saugerties, NY Mon 19 8:00 The Lovin' Cup Rochester, NY Thu 22 7:00 Ken's Jazz Attic Larchmont, NY Fri 23 7:30 The Iridium New York, NY Sat 24 7:00 De La Luz Soundstage Holyoke, MA Sun 25 8:10 & 9:15 Sellersville Theater Sellersville, PA Tue 27 7:00 Cafe Lena Saragoga Springs,  NY Wed 28 7:00 Funk & Waffles Syracuse,  NY Fri 30 7:00 & 9:00 Scullers Jazz Club Boston, MA Sat 31 8:00 & 9:00 The Side Door Old Lyme, CT
March 2025 News
With Tony touring extensively with the Beat Band last year, Levin Brothers hasn't been able to do much.  But with the new year we've got new plans.  We're working on a tour in May, likely mostly in the Northeast U.S.  Tony, Jeff and Pete will be joined again by sax virtuoso Pat LaBarbera.  For years Pat was a featured soloist with the Buddy Rich band, as well as a member of Elvin Jones' quartet.  Last year Pat joined the band for 2 shows at the Rochester Jazz Festival.  They're all looking forward to this reunion. The tour schedule will be announced soon, but here's just a taste.  On Friday, May 30th the LevBros will be playing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, Mass.  Then the Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme Connecticut on Saturday, May 31st. To be continued . . . . .
at Rochester Jazz Festival - June 2024	at Rochester Jazz Festival - June 2024
September 2024 News
Its been 10 years since Tony and Pete put on suits and ties and did the debut self-titled Levin Brothers album.  The focus of the music, live and on subsequent recordings, has changed over the years.  The '50s-semi-formal dress code has been abandoned - too hard to tour with suits and clean dress shirts!  But its still a labor of love. The biggest challenge is that the band members are in-demand musicians whose schedules rarely coincide.  The band is currently on hiatus while Pete has been in Europe with the Gil Evans Remembered Band, Tony is touring with the BEAT band, and Ken Gioffre is touring with Nile Rodgers.  So 2024 has been a wrap for a while. But they're developing plans for 2025, starting with a Northeast U.S. tour in May that will include New York City and Boston.  Stay tuned ...
February 2024 News
In April Tony, Pete, Jeff and Ken will be in Canada for two special shows with the California Guitar Trio.  The first, on Wednesday April 3rd, they'll be in in Montreal at CLUB SODA.  On Friday April 5th, along with the GGT they'll be in Quebec City at the PALAIS MONTCALM, a beautiful 975-seat theater.  The CGT players are all old friends of Tony and Pete. Tony has sat in with them at past shows.  Maybe this time too.  Word is that the Quebec City show has already sold hundreds of tickets.  It should be spectacular.  They're hoping to see many of their Canadian friends.   In June the Levin Brothers will be playing the Rochester Jazz Festival for the first time, and for two nights, June 26th and 27th!  Its a fantastic festival, and one of the biggest jazz festivals in the U.S.  With Ken Gioffre unavailable, they'll be joined by their recent Band Of Brothers band-mate, virtuoso sax player Pat LaBarbera.  It'll be expanded into a relatively short tour, with dates in Ontario, Canada and then coming east from Rochester.  No new studio recording plans, but possible that a live recording might come out of Rochester.  Fingers crossed. Last month (January) Tony and Pete toured the west coast with a jazz quartet made up of two pairs of brothers, the Levins, with saxophonist Pat LaBarbera and drummer Joe LaBarbera.  Name of the band: "Band of Brothers" of course!  They did 14 shows, traveling from Southern California, north to Vancouver, then back to Orcas Island and finishing in Seattle.  By the end the band was smokin'!  They're exploring possibilities of bringing the band to the East Coast sometime in 2025.
Band Bio 2024-2025
THE LEVIN BROTHERS BAND Growing up in in Brookline, Massachusetts, Pete and Tony Levin were trained in Classical music but were also attracted to and influenced by the 1950's jazz recordings by bassist Oscar Pettiford and French horn player Julius Watkins. Both were encouraged by Brookline’s music faculty to pursue music careers. Pete went to Boston University SFAA and then to The Juilliard School in New York City, Tony to The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. After graduating, Tony also moved to New York City. By the 1970’s. both were active in the New York City music scene, doing recording sessions and playing live. Style-wise, Tony and Pete have had divergent careers. Their musical paths have crossed many times, backing other artists and playing in each other's bands. In the late ‘70s they toured together with Paul Simon. But other than a 1976 recording by their first group - “The Clams” - the Levin Brothers band was their first time developing a project of their own. With their common roots, music training and decades of recording experience, getting their minds in sync with the project was easy. Their 2014 debut album “Levin Brothers” was recorded in Catskill, NY at Scott Petito’s NRS Studio. The music was rooted in ‘50s-era jazz. Over the years they've added a lot of eclectic material to the band's repertoire, drawing from Classical, Pop and Prog Rock genres and adapting it to the band's jazz style. Performances now include compositions by Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Ennio Morricone, Ralph Towner, Astor Piazzolla, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Giuffre, as well as originals by Pete, Tony, Jeff and Pat. Over the last 10 years the quartet has toured the U.S. and internationally, releasing 4 more albums. While Woodstock drummer Jeff Siegel has been with them from the beginning, the 4th member has varied over the years: saxophonist Erik Lawrence, guitarists David Spinozza and Jeff Ciampa, flautist Ali Ryerson and saxophonist Ken Gioffre. In 2024-25 they are joined by iconic saxophonist Pat Labarbera. TONY LEVIN Since graduating from the Eastman School of music, Tony has become the bass and Chapman Stick voice for Peter Gabriel and King Crimson. In addition, he has played on notable recordings for John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Dire Straits, Carly Simon, Judy Collins, and many others. Tony has major jazz credentials, having worked with Buddy Rich, Steps Ahead, L'Image, Gary Burton, Chuck Mangione, and Herbie Mann. He currently records and tours with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stick Men and BEAT. PETE LEVIN As a French Horn major, Pete earned a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. In the early ‘70s he switched to keyboards, becoming a synthesizer specialist in the New York City recording studio scene. Over the years, he has graced hundreds of jazz and pop recordings and performances with artists including Gil Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Brubeck, David Sanborn, Miles Davis, Joe Louis Walker, Freddie Hubbard, Annie Lennox, Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter. He has released 19 solo albums with groups of varying sizes. He currently leads and tours with the “Gil Evans Remembered” band, an 11-piece band made up of alumni of the Gil Evans Orchestra of the 1970’s. JEFF "SEIGE" SEIGEL Drummer/Composer/Educator Jeff Siegel is a veteran of the New York Jazz Scene and has worked with a virtual who's-who of jazz artists. A member of Sir Roland Hanna's Trio from 1994-99, Jeff has performed and recorded with jazz legends including Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Golson, Frank Foster, Helen Merrill and Mose Allison. For many years, along with bassist Rich Syracuse, he was a member of legendary pianist Lee Shaw's recording and touring trio. He currently tours and records with a jazz quartet The Professors, four members of the SUNY (State University of New York) music faculty. PAT LABARBERA American-born, Canadian jazz tenor sax player, Pat Labarbera is best known as a long-time featured soloist in Buddy Rich’s band. Pat comes from a musical family, sharing jazz history along with his two brothers, John (Buddy Rich) and Joe (Bill Evans, Tony Bennett). In 1975 Pat joined Elvin Jones’ quartet, touring internationally and recording with the legendary drummer for over 10 years. While working with Buddy Rich, Pat also played in groups led by Woody Herman, Louie Bellson and Carlos Santana. Living in Toronto, Ontario since 1974, Pat is on the faculty at Humber College. He has played a major role in the development of a generation of Canadian saxophonists. In 2000, he won a Juno Award for Best Traditional Instrumental Jazz Album for “Deep in a Dream.” Pat joined the Levin Brothers quartet in 2024, appearing with them for four shows at the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

November 2023 News

The band has been on hiatus while Tony was touring with Peter Gabriel and Stickmen.  He'll be home by December 1st, and we're getting back to it.  For starters, Tony, Pete & Jeff Siegel will be doing a brief but sweet tour in mid-December.  For the last 9 years we've had a different guest as our 4th player.  It was great way of keeping us fresh and constantly re-imagining our own music.  Over the years, we've been joined by Erik Lawrence, David Spinozza, Jeff Ciampa and Ali Ryerson.  For this tour, we'll be joined by sax player Ken Gioffre.  In addition to Ken's formidable jazz chops, he's also anchored in the pop and rock music world, currently doing tours with Nile Rodgers, Chic, Smokey Robinson and Blood Sweat & Tears.  Its going to be great having him with us. The December tour schedule is below.  Hope to see some of you there.

December 2023 Tour A relatively short one across Upstate New York, our first with Ken Gioffre on sax.  There'll be more of that! Sellersville, PA - beautiful theater, great place to start Albany, New York at WAMC's beautiful theater "The Linda" Photo by our friend Rudy Lu Rochester, New York at The Lovin' Cup. Photo by our friend Steve Czubara Back in our 'hood - Woodstock, New York at The Colony We don't remember who took this one

October 2022 News

The "Fade To Blue" tour is done, wrapped up with two nights at The Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, NY.  Great club, 2 nights of great audiences, lots of CDs sold and signed.  As always, our thanks to all the venues who took such good care of us, and to the folks who came out to hear us play.  You are all helping to keep the music alive in this nutty world!  Thank you!  Scroll on down to follow the tour.

4/4/17  Great night in New York City at Iridium Jazz Club, the final night of a 7-city swing through the Northeast U.S., concluding our Spring 2017 tour.  Our thanks to all the enthusiastic folks who came to the shows.  We're working on possible dates in December in the NY Metropolitan area, and in January 2018, the West Coast and Japan - and the release of a double live CD later this year.  All tentative at this point, but we're workin' on it.  Stay tuned ....

3/25/17  Final South America concert last night in San Salvador.  Tomorrow, a red-eye flight back to Newark, NJ and home.  2 days off and we start a 7-gig run in the Northeast, beginning in Pawling, New York at Daryl's House Club.  The full schedule is just below this blog, with links (in blue) to the venues' websites.  We'll be recording in Natick, MA and Rochester, NY for a live album to be released later this year.  They're all terrific venues that we played on the 2015 Levin Brothers Band tour.  Hope to see many of you there at these gigs.

3/22/17  Two airplanes and a hell of a lot of paperwork and we've arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador.  We've got a day off here, mostly set aside for PR interviews.  Concert Friday night; then on Saturday we fly to Newark and home. A couple of days to get our heads screwed on, and we're off on a 7-concert swing through the Northeast.  Check the itinerary just above; the blue text has links to the clubs' websites.

3/21/17  Concert tonight in Le Paz, Bolivia.  We arrived in this beautiful city last night, and were blown away by the spectacular views of the millions of lights on the surrounding hills and temperatures in the mid-'60s.  The only down side here is the altitude - 12,000 feet above sea level!  For us gringos, it's an effort just walking slowly up a small incline. What's that like performing?  I guess will find out.
Tomorrow we fly to El Salvador for a concert, and then back home for a couple of days rest before our Northeast U.S. gigs.

3/19/17  Finished in Buenos Aires last night, the last of several sold-out shows in some beautiful old theaters around the country.  Did press conferences, a live radio show with Astor Piazzolla's grandson, and ate lots of great food.  Today, in search of local Tango music and dancing.  Tomorrow, we head for Bolivia.  Hate to say it to our New York friends and neighbors, but the weather here has been beautiful.  Sorry guys!

3/14/17  It's a van tour now, with Leonardo, our agent, and Max, our irrepressible road manager.  All over Argentina.  The weather is beautiful, in contrast to the news we're getting from home - 3 feet of snow in Woodstock so far!  Yikes!

3/8/17  We're camped out in Santiago, Chile.  Beautiful weather, beautiful city and people.  We're rehearsing tomorrow at the ProJazz School.  Then on Saturday, we fly to Montevideo and the tour starts back up for real.  Photos on the 2017 TOUR PAGE when we've got 'em.

3/4/17  The 2017 tour has begun!  We started with a gig in our own Woodstock, New York back yard, playing to a packed house in an intimate local venue.  It served as a warm-up before heading for South America.  Some photos on the 2017 TOUR PAGE and more as we travel.

Rosendale, NY  3/4/17  Photo: Steve Czubara

2015

Tony, Pete, Erik & "Siege" in Albany, NY at WAMC's performance space, "The Linda" June 12, 2015

     "We grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, where we were trained in Classical music from a young age. But we also loved the 1950's recordings by jazz bassist Oscar Pettiford and jazz French horn player Julius Watkins; and those have remained influential, even as we went on to other playing. The catchy melodies, deep grooves, and tight solos made that music memorable, and it's been percolating for years for us to do an album of our own in that style.

     "The two of us have crossed musical paths many times over the last decades, having toured together with Paul Simon, and played in each others groups and albums; but we've never done a Levin Brothers album 'til now, and it's pretty special for us.

     "After writing material for it over the last few years, we invited outstanding players familiar with the musical territory to join in - guitarist David Spinozza, sax player Erik Lawrence and drummer Jeff Siegel. Steve Gadd appears as a special guest on the album, playing drums on two songs, "Bassics" and "Fishy Takes A Walk."
(* Tony and Steve's history dates back to their days in school together, followed by a lot of albums and tours.)

     "The sessions took place at Scott Petito's NRS Studio, in the Woodstock area where we live. The material is all our own, all new compositions except the lovely King Crimson song, "Matte Kudasai." Because we kept the songs short, there was room for a lot of material on this release; the CD has 14 tracks plus 2 exclusive bonus tracks.

     "Another long time wish that's come true with this release - a vinyl LP version of the music. We're told that 'Vinyl is coming back' and we're ready for that. In pre-orders, we're offering a special limited edition LP (1,000) with unique colored vinyl, each signed and numbered by us. The LP has 12 tracks, with a card enclosed to digitally download the CD's 14 tracks. We'll also be autographing the first 1,000 CD's ordered.

August 1, 2014
Woodstock, NY

     "This album's about a few things. It's a long overdue 'first record' by two brothers who've been making records individually for ... well, a lot of years! And it's a return home, for me and Pete, to the music we first shared as kids - the 'cool jazz' of the 50's. So it's been a labor of love to write pieces in that style, woodshed my cello playing, so as to use it as a lead instrument, and put together a record with melody based songs, short solos, and, hopefully, the chemistry of musicians who play like ... like brothers!

     "You'll see us in suits in the session photos - that was an effort to help be immersed in the genre of the music. Back in the 50's, I guess everyone put on a suit and tie to go to work, even jazz players. It took awhile to get used to, but was actually kind of fun. Old school!
 
    "We think this album will appeal to anyone who likes instrumental music, and it's a special treat to be able to offer it in vinyl (with digital download card, of course) as well as CD."

     "Jazz musicians share a common trait; we're standing on the shoulders of a long succession of players, going all the way back to Louis Armstrong. Their spirit is alive in the fabric of everything that we play. It's only natural that, periodically, we want to revisit our roots.

     "Last year, Tony called me to say he was getting into jazz cello and did I have time to get together and play. His idea was to revisit music we listened to as kids, soulful jazz with melodies we could still scat after 50 years. We wrote some tunes, jammed, wrote some more, and talked about doing local trio gigs. It was a natural progression to ... hey wait, let's record this!

     "Style-wise, Tony and I have had divergent careers, although our musical paths have crossed many times, backing other artists and playing in each other's bands. But this is our first time developing a project together. With our common roots, similar music training and decades of recording experience, getting our minds in sync with the concept and the plan was easy. In the Woodstock, NY community where we live, we're surrounded by great recording studios and great musicians. Now, with the enthusiastic support of an indie label, we're rockin'!  (Well, swinging actually.)"

For live performance inquiries
contact Gille Amaral
at Dog & Pony Industries

Lazy Bones Recordings is an indie label and publishing company founded by music producer, Scott Schorr. Lazy Bones works with the finest indie bands and singer/songwriters and fosters a creative environment to produce first rate recordings. With few exceptions, Lazy Bones works with its artists from the inception of the recording through completion of the Master. Their goal: to work with the potential "catalog" artists - one that creates numerous, meaningful recordings that will stand the test of time. Once done, Lazy Bones licenses the artists' songs to the film, television and advertising world.

contact Scott Schorr

(310) 281-6232

BASS PLAYER  by Paul Levin (Tony & Pete's dad) 1957
 

Since graduating from the Eastman School of music, Tony has become the bass and Chapman Stick voice for Peter Gabriel and King Crimson. In addition, he has played on notable recordings for John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Dire Straits, Carly Simon, Judy Collins, and many others. Tony has major jazz credentials, having worked with Buddy Rich, Steps Ahead, L'Image, Gary Burton, Chuck Mangione, and Herbie Mann. He currently records and tours with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stick Men, and The Crimson ProjeKCt.

As a French Horn major, Pete earned a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. In the early ‘70s he switched to keyboards, becoming a synthesizer specialist in the New York City recording studio scene. Over the years, he has graced hundreds of jazz and pop recordings and performances by the likes of Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Brubeck, David Sanborn, Joe Louis Walker, Don Elliott, Freddie Hubbard, Annie Lennox, Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter. He currently records with his organ trio with Dave Stryker and Lenny White.

Drummer/Composer Jeff Siegel is a veteran of the New York Jazz Scene and has worked with a virtual who's-who of jazz artists. A member of Sir Roland Hanna's Trio from 1994-99, Jeff has performed and recorded with jazz legends including Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Golson, Frank Foster, Helen Merrill and Mose Allison.

An in-demand New York studio guitarist for decades, David has the unique credit of having worked with three of the former Beatles - Paul, John and Ringo. (Not at the same time.) He produced James Taylor's album Walking Man, has recorded with Billy Joel, Dr. John and Paul Simon and was a member of the Saturday Night Live Band from 1980-82. In 2009, David reunited with his band "L'Image" with Mike Mainieri, Warren Bernhardt, Tony Levin and Steve Gadd.

The son of jazz saxophonist and rock guru Arnie Lawrence, Erik is a longtime member of Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band.  His innovative band "Hipmotism" features Sex Mob’s slide trumpet player Steven Bernstein. Equally proficient on flute and saxophone, Erik's career as a sideman has included work with Buddy Miles, Chico Hamilton, Joan Osborne, The Spin Doctors and master Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog.

One of the most in-demand drummers in the world, Steve has worked with an incredible array of artists, including Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, David Sanborn, Peter Gabriel, Chick Corea, Aretha Franklin and "Stuff", a band he co-led with pianist Richard Tee. Friends and colleagues since college, Steve and Tony were Chuck Mangione's first rhythm section.

Bassist for the legendary 60’s punk band, The Fugs, Scott is a multi-talented musician with extensive performance credits. A Grammy-nominated recording engineer and producer, Scott owns and operates NRS Recording in Catskill, NY.

 www.scottpetitoproductions.com/

An award-winning engineer based in the San Francisco Bay area, Larry relocated to Saratoga Springs, NY and launched Silvertone Mastering, a dedicated mastering facility that fills a big void in the Upstate New York region. For Larry, Silvertone was the next logical step in his personal quest for sonic audio perfection.

www.silvertonemastering.com/